rstevens and Diesel Sweeties Rich Stevens is creator of the online comic strip Diesel Sweeties. The comic, which dates back to 2000, stars a wide cast of characters including Indie Rock Pete, Clango (a robot), Maura (Clango's girlfriend), and Red Robot #C-63, who is on a mission to destroy humanity. Stevens unique art style gives the comic a classic feel and works well with Steven's offbeat humour. A new Diesel Sweetie's comic is added Monday through Friday. Check it out at DieselSweeties.com.

Not only does the possibility exist to explore new methods of layout and storytelling in digital comics but there is also the freedom to explore new forms of artwork that in a medium such as print wouldn't be nearly as effective. It was while experimenting with different styles of art that Rich Stevens reacquainted himself with his love for old computers and icons. Stevens is the creator of the online comic strip Diesel Sweeties. The style of drawing that he chose is reminiscent of the early age of computers and computer graphics. "…I started drawing in big pixels," says Stevens. "I was really pleased with how they looked and I thought it was a appropriate for a strip about a robot." Stevens doesn't think that Diesel Sweeties would have done as well as it did had the strip started in print; he says that there's something of a "...time-warp factor. Seeing something oldschool (the style of drawing) on your brand new, high tech Internet computer." Stevens admits that a lot of people are turned off by the art the first time they see the strip but, he says, they always remember it when they come back "and that's when the nostalgia kicks in." The Web is an excellent proving ground for Stevens and Diesel Sweeties, and has allowed him to "practice, grow strong, and get to people outside of the normal comic Indie Rock Pete and Maura, from rstevens' online comic Diesel Sweeties. book audience." Stevens goes out of his way to try and win over people who don't normally read comics, "I really consciously make stuff that won't only appeal to hard-core comics geeks and gamers," he says. "I want the average computer-capable person to be able to look at the strip and get a fair number of the jokes." He's been successful in doing this too, "I get a decent number of 'I don't read any other comics' and/or 'I only read yours and comic 'x'' type e-mails," he says and adds that this kind of message "makes me happy". During the interview, Stevens mentioned that web-comics are a cheap way to get started and that the medium of print is limiting mostly because its costs far to more to get started in print than it does online. It was this sort of reasoning that led Toronto-based cartoonist Greg Hyland to leave the world of printed comics behind after nearly ten-years and set up camp online. As Hyland saw the sales of his long-running comic series Lethargic Lad start to slump, he began to look for a way to keep Lethargic Lad from slipping into obscurity. Inspired by what he saw cartoonist Don Simpson doing with his online comic Megaton Man, he decided to follow suit. In April of 2000, LethargicLad.com was launched with new strips posted twice weekly. "I always liked the idea of what online cartoonists were doing," said Hyland. By going online he was also able to change the format of Lethargic Lad from the traditional page to the look of a newspaper comic strip, something that Hyland has wanted to do for a while. This system is especially appealing to Hyland because he didn't want to stop doing Lethargic Lad comics but at the same time, he didn't want to "lose a lot of money doing it." Hyland is getting good exposure online: his site gets between 3000-4000 hits per week and Lethargic Lad is also featured on Toonorama, which Hyland described as "online syndication." Toonorama (as seen below) is a system that allows people to feature certain comics on their site, by inserting a piece of code provided by Toonorama. The comic is automatically updated when a new comic is issued. It's a good source of free advertising says Hyland and he's "happy to be included." The last time he checked, Lethargic Lad could be found on 50 or so sites, including sites in Italy and Germany. Next Page

Greg Hyland and Lethargic Lad Toronto-based cartoonist Greg Hyland has been producing comics for over ten years now. He started out self-publishing his comic Lethargic Lad in 1991, after having some success with the mini-comic version of Lethargic Lad. Since going online Hyland has continued to attend comic conventions and sell back issues of his comics with some success. Hyland recently announced that new Lethargic Lad comics will be appearing in John Kovalic's Dork Tower comic series starting in February 2002. Be sure to check out LethargicLad.com. A new comic is added each Sunday. For more information on the Lethargic Lad/Dork Tower comic, check out DorkTower.com